So often, illegible statements are considered illegitimate. “If I can’t understand your words, how can they be truthful?” Sound Etiquette tests this assumption by showcasing recent works by Sonia Boyce, Christine Sun Kim, and Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay.

Through song, babble, slam poetry, and soundless closed-captioning, these three video-based artworks unravel social norms associated with sonic communication. In situations where comprehensible language proves to be insufficient — too linear, too gendered, too exclusionary — these artists turn to methods of communication that are more forgiving.